US President Donald Trump will attend the ceremonial signing of a peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia at an upcoming summit of Southeast Asian nations, the foreign minister of host Malaysia said on Tuesday, October 14. Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia erupted in July into the deadliest military clashes in decades, killing more than 40 people and forcing around 300,000 to flee their homes. The two sides agreed to a ceasefire – brokered in part by Trump – after five days of fighting, and have since repeatedly traded accusations of truce violations.
Trump "is looking forward to witnessing the Thailand-Cambodia peace deal," Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamad Hasan told reporters at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur. Mohamad said the US leader would visit Malaysia on October 26 to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the Malaysian capital from October 26-28. He said Malaysia and the United States would serve as facilitators to "see a more extensive ceasefire deal" between Thailand and Cambodia, which will require "both sides to remove all landmines and withdraw their military machinery from their borders."
"During the summit, we hope to see the signing of a declaration, known as the Kuala Lumpur Accord, between these two neighbors to ensure peace and a lasting ceasefire," Mohamad added.
Thai government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat told reporters Bangkok was aware the United States was giving the dispute priority. "But what Cambodia has to do first, before we accept the US offer, are our four points that we have raised," he said.
Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Thursday that he had received a letter from Trump, in which the US leader said he wanted to see the two neighbors resolve tensions. Anutin also said Thailand was ready to negotiate if Cambodia withdrew heavy weapons from border areas, removed landmines, cracked down on internet scammers and relocated its citizens from borderlands Thailand considers its own.
Anutin's remarks came a day after the Thai premier appeared to brush off a continued role for Trump – who has been chasing a Nobel Peace Prize – in any further negotiations between the two nations aimed at solving their border dispute. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has said he nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, crediting him with "innovative diplomacy" that ended the military clashes.
Influential former Cambodian leader Hun Sen, who is Hun Manet's father, told a visiting senior Malaysian official on Tuesday that the border situation remained "a concern and very fragile" and that "clashes could happen again," according to a statement posted to Hun Sen's Facebook page. Hun Sen also told Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi that Cambodia wanted "an effective ceasefire and a solution that leads to normalcy of ties between Cambodia and Thailand."